Be Brave. Just Do it. Barry Sanders.

When I grew up, Barry Sanders and Emmit Smith were back and forth every year in the NFL over who was the best. In my mind, Barry Sanders won it every year and my best friend was an Emmit Fan. With the humility of the average Joe, Barry had me intrigued every time he would score a touchdown and run to the referree to hand him the ball. No spiking or dance. Just a “here you go, that was simple enough” underhanded toss to the ref.

In addition to his humility, Barry reminded me of his bravery every morning as I would wake up and see his poster on my bedroom wall with this quote (see below). As a teenager, I was pretty shy – especially when it came to talking to girls. For some reason (it might have to do with having 6 brothers and one princess sister) I just got nervous and afraid to pick up the phone and call some girl I liked. We didn’t have text or email at this time, so it was a chore (for me) to pick up that phone and dial her number worrying about if her dad answered or if it just seemed weird to her. Again, with no email or texting, you either passed a note during class and risk the teacher catching you and reading it aloud, or you sucked it up after football practice and dialed the number.

As fun as it might seem, it was a very serious thing that I would beat myself up over. Barry’s quote would remind me to be brave, face the fear and, “call her.” Read for yourself. This is from 1995.